After you put a cut together, you will screen the material, get input, and recut it until you arrive at a final product you are satisfied with. But even then, you are not quite finished, because your “final product” isn’t really final per se if you edited in offline mode—a working method we will examine shortly. If that is the case, you have essentially created via your timeline a final portrait of all your editing decisions, not the final movie itself. In essence, what you now possess is the edit decision list (EDL)—a detailed list of all your editing decisions, usually generated automatically by your NLE system—which you will use as an exact road map for building the final version of your movie during the online process.

But even if you skipped the offline method and used an online workflow (see Tech Talk: Native Editing, above) all the way through the editing phase, as opposed to an offline/online methodology, you may still not be totally done in that you may need to add or tweak finished visual effects, sounds, music, color, credits, or other finishing touches. Keep in mind that you will be dealing with the creation of some of these elements, such as titles and color correction, at some point during your editing process, as we discuss later in this chapter (see Action Steps: Adding Titles and Graphics, below, and here for more on color correction). Others, such as sound and visual effects, entail separate creative processes, as we discuss in Chapters 10 and 13, respectively. But all of these elements need to eventually be brought together and incorporated into your final version so that, after everything is finished, you can finally output the whole thing to your mastering media (see here). As students, you will likely be building a basic mastered version of the movie on tape, Blu-ray, or DVD, or existing as a so-called digital master—a file living on a hard drive.

At the professional level, all of these finishing processes are typically done by separate artists and facilities. But at the student level, you will need to execute them yourself before you can consider yourself finished with the editing phase. Although it is true that these processes are not considered “creative” editing chores in the same way as are the techniques we discuss in Chapter 12, they do involve improving the overall quality of your product—color, resolution, depth, clarity, and so on. The basic processes you need to understand include any or all of the points discussed in the following sections.

Offline/Online Workflow

Now that we’ve discussed using an entirely native online workflow, let’s examine the basics behind the other approach—using an offline/online methodology. The terms offline and online predate the digital editing revolution and were originally applied when editing was done tape to tape. But the terms continue to have relevance today. Now, they essentially refer to cutting a movie at a lower resolution (offline) with lower-quality versions of original files before reassembling them in better-quality native resolution (online). With this methodology, the offline represents a key step toward assembling the final version, whereas the online represents the actual construction of that final version. The online would typically include performing the final assembly of the movie and adding color correction, effects, and any other final touches until you have generated a final master.

When you cut offline, you need to decide what lower-resolution file format to convert your files to in order to enable better performance from your NLE. You will also need to learn how to use the EDL generated by your NLE as a precise guide for finalizing the edit during the online process (here).

In terms of file formats, since files with lower data rates take up less storage on your computer, you will want to convert files to a format that is of low enough quality so as not to strain your computer’s speed and efficiency, and yet of good enough quality to be able to view your imagery so that you can make good editing decisions. Therefore, if you are working offline, you want to have your NLE copy original files to more compressed versions and edit using those.

Once you start offlining, your NLE will build the all-important EDL. The modern EDL is essentially a detailed, software-generated report that provides data or details on each important aspect of the editing process specific to the particular format used by the manufacturer of your NLE system. It essentially works like a map, guiding your system through the exact editing route you took when you cut the material originally. Although EDLs from different systems can vary, most will typically include an edit number to help you find original edits during the online process; source reel numbers, which tell you which original tape or file you will be able to find the higher-quality source material in; an edit mode number, which simply indicates if the edit was done on picture, audio, or both, and if audio, which audio channel; an editor transition type number, which refers to the type of cut it is (which you will learn about in Chapter 12); a duration number, representing the length of the transition in frames; and playback and record in-and-out numbers, which can also be called source in-and-out numbers. The playback number indicates beginning and end points of the source material, and the record in-and-out number represents the timecode location on the master tape where you will be placing a particular edit.

On modern NLEs, after an offline edit, your online edit can often be largely a matter of linking low-resolution sequences in your timeline to the original, full-resolution files in your system. You will instruct the NLE to first unlink clips in the sequence from the proxy files you have been using, and then you will instruct the system to relink to the high-resolution source files. If you have organized things correctly and your source clips and proxy clips have identical timecodes, this process can be automatic—called an auto-assemble. A word of caution, however, about the EDL: generating an EDL depends on your original material having timecode. If you shot with a fairly modern digital camera system and set the system correctly, you should have accurate timecode readily available. However, if your timecode, reel names, or metadata is flawed for some reason, it is possible your EDL will be flawed, and thus your conforming process will grow more complicated. Therefore, make sure your camera will produce accurate timecode and metadata on your tape or image files during prep.

Color Correction

Whichever workflow you choose for editing and then conforming your movie, you will have to transition into a color-correction phase. The power of today’s digital postproduction tools, including affordable NLE systems like the one you might be using, gives filmmakers increased ability to tweak colors generally, and the characteristics of color more specifically. Color manipulation is an important creative tool for filmmakers because it can not only correct obvious flaws or make basic changes (changing the color of a vehicle or a building) but also help you change minute details, enhance or tweak skin tones, change brightness and tone, maintain better consistency in look between shots, and alter the emotional impact of your story.

Broadly, the goal of color correction is to make your imagery look consistent throughout, so that the viewer is not distracted by sharp changes or unevenness in color tone. The caveat to that, of course, is that changes can be made with strategic creative reasons in mind. A few other basic tips regarding your color-correction goals include the following points:

Color correction to achieve these kinds of things, and much more, can be a complex endeavor, and many of its nuances take years of practice to perfect. In fact, in the professional world, the final color-correction process that has grown widely ubiquitous is known as the digital intermediate (DI). Typically, the DI is done at a separate facility or with high-end color-grading software that literally allows artists to dig deep into individual frames of a movie to subtly adjust nuances of color according to the filmmaker’s specifications. An artist called a colorist usually handles this work, and he or she works closely with the director and cinematographer to address color adjustments globally on the entire project. The power of the DI suite is such that prominent cinematographers often demand contractual terms that allow them to attend and participate in the DI session, because the careful lighting work that they do on-set can be severely impacted with this tool. Therefore, you need to be particularly careful and strategic in how you use color correction. Ideally, you are looking to extend, finish, improve, finalize, or tweak your cinematography, while striving hard not to fundamentally change it. You are unlikely to be able to afford a full DI session anyway, but your NLE is likely to possess fairly robust color-correction tools, affording you the opportunity to work with color during the finishing process in ways students of earlier eras never could; thus, you should strive to take advantage of them as far as your time and resources will permit.

Your most important color-correction tool will be your monitor, because results of your color work will only be obvious if you can properly see them. Obviously, use the best monitor for your entire editing process that you have available. Beyond that, your NLE software will include various video-signal monitoring tools, including most likely a waveform monitor, which can help you measure luminance (brightness) levels; a vectorscope; and possibly an RGB parade monitor, which will display red, green, and blue levels for you.

On many systems, you can also set certain color controls to suit you, from fairly simple to complex. Like other aspects of nonlinear editing, color-control adjustments can be nondestructive—meaning you can try something creatively, and if you don’t like the result, you can undo it with no harm done. Depending on your NLE system, you are likely to find controls to allow manipulation of the following color characteristics:

Outputting a Master File

When you are done finalizing your movie, you must then export it as a master file to whatever media you have chosen. Typically, modern NLEs can automatically export files in different formats fairly simply, but you need to think about how you will be exhibiting your movie to guide your decision. Keep in mind there are all sorts of files and formats, and image quality will vary depending on which format you use. That choice, in turn, depends on your resources and what your end goal is for showing the movie. But generally, it’s always a good idea to master your project at the highest possible resolution. You never know what potential exhibition opportunities will come your way, and you want a quality level that will allow you to exhibit in any possible environment or platform.

Here are some issues to consider about what kind of mastering file to create, how to create it, and what kind of media you may want to export your movie to. This can evolve into particularly technical areas at the high end of the industry, and you will need to learn more about those areas as you move forward in your filmmaking education, but for now, you will benefit from a general awareness of the following issues: